The
younger brother of late a lieutenant colonel who was killed in a Boko
Haram ambush in Borno state on Monday night, has written to President
Muhammadu Buhari over his brother's death.
The Colonel, wife & child
We reported on Tuesday
that a Lieutenant Colonel and Commanding Officer, 118 Task Force
Battalion in Borno State, Lt. Col Otos Umusu, was been killed alongside
his security details, by an Improvised Explosive Device in an ambush on
Monday evening.
Military insiders had disclosed that the senior Nigerian Army
officer and his men were returning from Maiduguri to their location
towards Baga when he was killed by suspected Boko Haram militants.
In an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, Odiriviroro Umusu,
younger brother of the late lieutenant colonel has written to the
president over his brother’s tragic death which occurred a few weeks
after the insurgents killed Abu-Ali, a lieutenant colonel and commanding
officer of 272 task force battalion, in a night raid in Borno state.
The late colonel's younger Umusu who told the president to
investigate the death of his brother, wondered how and why his brother
bled to death, when the army should ordinarily be prepared to snuff out
the kind of injury his brother suffered.
“My name is Odiriviroro Umusu. I am the immediate junior
brother of one of your officers Lieutenant Colonel Otobrise Umusu the
Commanding Officer, 118 Task Force Battalion in Borno State, who was
killed by an Improvised Explosive Device, IED, in an ambush on Monday
12th December 2016 on his way to Baga,” he wrote.
“Your Excellency, if you are reading this, the name UMUSU will
ring a bell as my father Brigadier General Sylvester Ugege Umusu served
under you and also worked with you when you headed PTF. It is now
Wednesday 14th December 2016 and as I write this letter with tears in
eyes, my father, my brother’s wife Ufuoma Joe Umusu and his siblings
have not been contacted by you, your office, the Chief of Defence Staff
or the Chief of Army Staff to offer your condolences for our loss. My
brave brother sacrificed his life and future with his family to make
yours and every Nigerian’s today safe.
“In my humble opinion we deserve your acknowledgement and
appreciation and as a former army officer I know you appreciate the
sacrifice involved in serving your country and it saddens me that in
over 24 hours after the passing of my brother a call has not been made
to my family. I do not under any circumstances believe this is too much
to ask; for the fallen heroes of our beloved country Nigeria.
“My family has served Nigeria in her armed forces and continues
to do so; we have paid the greatest price for that service: the very
young life of my beloved brother Lieutenant Colonel Otobrise Umusu who
was killed in action. As his family we have lots of questions to ask
surrounding his death:
“When will an investigation be carried out? Will there be an
investigation? My brother bled out, why did his team not have the right
equipment for such eventuality? What lessons can be learnt from this?
“What is being done to stop funding to Boko Haram? Every
weapon, vehicle purchase or general equipment purchase by Boko Haram
must leave a paper trail. Can the expert forensic accounting skills used
by the EFCC not be employed to disrupt their operations?
“Your Excellency, you may deem this letter as disrespectful and
not the right procedure in dealing with this matter but I am all but a
Nigerian citizen that is grieving the loss of his beloved brother and in
my humble opinion we deserve to know the who, what and why that
happened to our brother on that terrible day and as his Command in Chief
you are ultimately responsible for reaching out to all the families of
our fallen heroes to assure them their loved ones did not die in vain.”
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